Thank goodness the Legislature has approved an increase in the gas tax of 5.9 cents to help meet federal matching funds of $58 million. It would seem that cost of repairs and maintenance must have increased over the last two decades, and if the gas tax has not been increased over time that this and other funding should be adjusted. You may say that is a liberal view, I say it’s just common sense.

Considering that a 2012 report on “Vermont Transportation Funding Options” published January of this year indicated that every 1 cent increase in the gas tax will bring additional annual revenue of $3.3 million. An increase of 5.9 cents will bring in about $19.5 million. I have never seen gas sell at a price that did not end with 0.9 cents would reason that retailers will add 0.1 cent the 5.9 cent tax increase to keep the prices ending in 0.9 cents.

If I was a liberal, I would think that if I was to vote for an increase of the gas tax by 5.9 cents which would actually cause me to get to blame for a resulting increase at the pump of 6 cents, I would want the full 6 cents to go towards the tax increase.

Now the conservative view may be that allowing gas retailers to collect an additional $330,000 annually is a good thing for the small businessman. Most of us understand that the retailers themselves receive a very small margin of the profits from sales of fuel compared to big oil.

I can actually accept the conservative view. However it would be nice if our legislators are going to make decisions that are going to take money out of my pocket, that they fully understood the result of their actions. Maybe I’ll consider running for the Legislature in 2014 to help bring some added common sense to Montpelier.